1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a receiver tank disposed adjacent to a condenser so as to constitute a portion of a refrigeration system for performing a refrigeration cycle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An example of the receiver tanks of the type concerned is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 53-6737. The disclosed receiver tank has a partition wall formed integrally with the peripheral wall of the receiver tank along the length thereof for separating the internal space of the receiver tank into three chambers, namely an inlet side communication chamber, a storage chamber, and an outlet side communication chamber. The inlet side communication chamber is connected at its lower end with a tube extending from a condenser for introducing a refrigerant in the liquid state into the inlet side communication chamber and thence to an upper part of the internal space of the receiver tank. The refrigerant flowing upwardly along the partition wall is then turned down at an upper end of the partition wall and falls into the bottom of the storage chamber so that a liquid refrigerant stored in the storage chamber is forced out or discharged from an outlet at a predetermined pressure via the outlet side communication chamber.
With the receiver tank of the foregoing construction, the partition wall is integrally formed by stamping, for example, with the receiver tank so as to define the inlet side communication chamber, the storage chamber and the outlet side communication chamber. The partition wall requires a complicated finishing processes such as cutting of a part of the partition wall for providing a fluid-communication between the inlet side communication chamber and the storage chamber and also between the storage chamber and the outlet side communication chamber. In addition, since the refrigerant flows from the upper end of the inlet side communication chamber directly into the storage chamber, an adequate vapor-liquid separation is difficult to perform.